everything between us
by jiangweiwei
Summary: After two years traveling through the quantum abyss, Lance thought Keith would be different. That they would be different. In the end, he should've known that everything between them was still there.


Lance stopped pulling on a half-embedded crystal and took a moment to catch his breath. The air in the cave was cool, but the stubborn minerals he was trying to pull out of the earth were making him start to sweat. He sighed. Rubbed his face. Sighed again.

"Already complaining, Lance?"

"Just breathing, Keith," the Red Paladin responded coolly.

Keith blew out a hot breath, leaning his head back against the wall of the cave. Lance watched him close his eyes, run a hand down his face. After spending two years trapped in the quantum abyss, Keith was almost totally different than the hot-headed, young upstart who had originally left. He wasn't taller than Lance, but he seemed to have more presence than before, and his face had lost the last of its baby fat. His eyes were sharper, the glint in them still there but honed to a fine edge instead of the blunt weapon he used to swing wildly. No matter how Lance looked at him, Keith was just… different.

"Something's bothering you," Keith said bluntly, not opening his eyes.

Lance looked away, staring down at the red crystal in his hands. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face and fell to the ground. "There's nothing bothering me."

"Lies," Keith said. He cracked open an eye and mumbled, "That's bullshit."

Lance ignored him and rolled his shoulders, yanking at the crystal again. "So what?"

"What do you mean, so what? We're friends."

"We _were_ friends."

Keith pushed off the wall of the cave and took three steps toward the Red Paladin. His voice was mixed with gravel. "Were? I don't remember breaking our friendship off, Lance."

Lance didn't turn to look. He knew that if he did, he wouldn't be able to tear his gaze away. He struggled to keep his voice level. "Well, you were stuck in the quantum abyss for two years. I'm surprised you even remember my name."

"The energy waves in the quantum abyss showed us flashes of memories," Keith said.

It wasn't the answer Lance was looking for. "Oh, okay."

They fell silent. Lance kept trying to pull the red crystal out of the earth and ignore Keith's heavy gaze on the back of his neck. So far, it wasn't going in his favor.

"There's obviously something bothering you," Keith grumbled, breaking the tense silence. His boots scuffed the floor as he moved back to his spot against the wall.

"Maybe it's you," Lance said. It was supposed to be a joke, but his voice went flat and bitter. The crystal slid out of the cave floor with a grinding sound.

"It's me?"

Lance cringed down into himself, his paladin armor clacking softly. He chanced a look at Keith's form and instantly realized it was a mistake.

Keith looked hurt. Like he'd been betrayed. Like he'd never thought that Lance could actually come to dislike him. Like... he'd lost something. When he spoke, it was with forced stability. "Am I…?"

"No, that came out wrong," Lance sighed, his head shaking back and forth with jerky, nervous movements. "I just… you were gone for two years, right? Doesn't that bother you? That you're two years older and everyone else is the same?"

Keith was standing upright now, hands hanging limply at his sides. "Not until just now, no."

Lance threw the crystal in his hand onto the ground. It was uncomfortable in this cave, all hot and clammy. Another bead of sweat rolled from his temple. "I feel like I don't know you anymore. That's all."

There was a long beat of silence before Keith sighed. "Christ Lance, is that all?"

Lance's head shot up, not registering the relieved look on the Black Paladin's face. The corners of his mouth were turned up, an amused glint in his eye that he'd hardly seen before. "What… why are you laughing at me?"

"I'm not laughing at you," Keith denied, trying to wipe the smile off of his face.

"Yes, you are!"

"I'm not," Keith assured, taking a confident step forward. "Jesus, Lance."

"Don't 'Jesus' me," Lance sniffed, not quite sure what was going on. Still, he didn't move from his spot when Keith took another step forward.

"You don't have to worry about not knowing me," Keith told him, reaching out and taking Lance's hands with an earnest expression. "I'm the same as I was before. _We're_ the same."

Lance stared down at their hands, feeling something in his stomach twist pleasantly. Those were Keith's hands, under the gloves. His fingers. "Okay."

Keith searched his face for a heartbeat and let go, stepping back with a satisfied look on his face. "Come on, we've got to get these back to the castle."


End file.
